Skipped Vegas. Apparently Have Zero Interest in Playing Poker These Days.

I had my bags packed ready to go to Vegas last Friday to catch some main event atmosphere. I was gonna try one satellite to get in. But on my way I had friends wanting to go and telling me we could stay here n there for free and bla bla bla. So I wait. Then I agree to wait till the next morning. Then they bail. Then I play in a friendly home game and get reminded why I havent played poker in a month. I have been sitting at a coffee shop making other plans for how to not work in a cubicle and still make bank. But I do want to play some tournaments. So anyway I didnt go. And I wanted to buy a piece of the Monkey a while back. Lucky for him I guess. Im a cooler. I guess my next thing will be the AZ state tournament in August. So anyway I am rooting for the Poker Monkey. His blog is in my list and on gcp and its the one of the most entertaining poker blogs out there.

Down Swing. Vegas Soon.

Craptastic. I just got back from Baton Rouge and started off the week with a $700 loss. Dude the $1/$2 pot limit omaha game at the Tiger Den is ridiculous. You better come with $2000 minimum and be ready to sling some chips. I went and said hello and got a massage but I told them if I sat I would run $400 up to $1000 and quit and they really wouldnt like the hit n run. Plus Im just not an omaha player. I dont even think Im much of a no limit player really. Too conservative for the current landscape. Anyway I heard there was $17k on the table last week for the PLO game. Sickness. I only played once in Baton Rouge. I dumped $200 at the Belle inthe 4/8/12 half n half game. What a great game though. All old drunk brothas who love to chase and call light. I heard there's a $1/$2 no limit at Hollywood but I didnt get to check it out. I guess they are trying to lick the jar until Pinnacle opens soon. I hear it going to be really nice and suck up all the players. I have run 3 sessions in a row without catching many hands. But the good news is Im taking my losses like a champ and not tilting into the pit. I have been off the pit for over a month. Even though Im way up for 2011 and well up for 2012 I just hate the feeling of losing at slots. I wanna be a pro grinder and thats just bad business long term. I had good run and wanna quit while I'm ahead. The World Series is coming up in Vegas and I'm definitely going to catch that action. I will try to satelite into something with a bracelete and play some nightlies.

Listen to the Voice

Doh. Longtime no post. My bad. So I went on the worst run. I went to Vegas to hang with a ton of friends there for an event. Not poker players. Have a blast on Friday night the Sat I decide to play the 20/40 at the Bellagio. The game was so good and the rake was $4 less an hour than my regular place. I'm playin a couple hours and up almost a buyin. I get the thought: I should cash out and go have fun. If I listened to that voice all the time I would be rich. Well I dont leave and shortly after get Aces. I get them cracked on the river in a heads up pot. It pisses me off. 15 hours later Im down 2.5 buyins. All my friends had a blast and I fuckin hate life. I get rest at my room and go back. 15 hrs later Im down another buyin. Two days of coolers, riversn and being pissed off and playing overly aggressive. One pot I lost I raised and bet and raised all the way to the river with KK. The river comes a 4 of clubs putting 4 clubs out. Do I lose to a flush? No. This guy hung in with pocket 4s and no club. I went bullistic. I surprised I didnt get a warning for the way I slammed my chair as I stormed off cussing. Another pot I raise with a suited King in middle position. Get like 4 callers. I flop a flush. There is a ton of action and the hand is 2 and 3 bet on all streets except the river when the board puts the 3rd 7 out. Any air has a house now and Im pissed. The funny thing is the guy who flatted my raise with 9,5 of my suit flopped the straight flush when I flopped the freaking 2nd nut flush. So whatever. I go back to AZ and nothing changes. By the end of the week Im down like 7 buyins. So I took a break. I think the whole deal was caused by karma. I decided to go to Vegas instead of helping my friend drive to San Diego to see his daughter like I knew I was suppossed to do. There's that voice I ignore again. So for the last month I have only played maybe 4 times and only when all the stars align and Im in a super great freaking mood. Not pressuring myself to get in hours. Hopefully the stars will start aligning more often so I can get some more wins going. The last time I played was sweet. I won a half kill pot by calling a river bet with Queen high after the bluffer ran out the only guy with a hand. Nothing feels better than dragging a $400 pot calling pretty confidently with Queen high.

Blogging is a Cooler

GDammit. I should never post happy. I go play today and totally suck. I constantly went against my better judgement. Of course I did flop a boat in a capped pot and got 2 outtered and flopped top two with AK with a diamomd flush draw out there and lose to hearts. I was steamed but really it was just a bad decision day. My last hand I raised and got one call from a total assclown who I have played plenty with. This dude is a beauty. About 50 years old, half a head of longish hair, slicked straight back (a poor man's Pat Riley look), sporting the last members only jacket, always raising and going all the way with no pair.  Classic picture of a degenerate loser. Of course Im raising with J10 but thats not usual for me. He called with Q6 which is very normal for him. The flop is Q82. I bet, he raises, I call. The turn is another 8. I check raise him. He calls. I miss the gutshot and bet anyway. He calls. Im actually not upset for two reasons: I got up and left instead of continueing to play bad, and I played it so bad that I doubt this dude will ever lay down against me again. If wouldve had anything other than a pure bluff there, I wouldve had him crushed with a better Q or over pair or an 8. What else can chkrz the turn there? So I think it was very good but expensive advertising. I shoulda known not to go play after I got a suicidal/drunk/save me/fuck you for not saving me call from someone I care about but cant do anything for last night. Plus me n my gf broke up 2 days ago. Hey at least my kid didnt cooler me today!

2012 is Lookin Swell

F'n Tigers. Way to not show up for a game that if you win you could be considered one of the greatest teams of all time. I guess I should exclude the defense from my dissapointment but the offense and the coaching staff should all be flogged. I hope Lee told Les to go f himself after the game. I honestly wonder if the fix was in. I remember one play where Jefferson was sacked where the two offensive line men were staring at one defender and they both turned inside as he b-lined for Jefferson. Same guy who already had 2 false starts. Just sayin.

Poker is going well. It's limit so it never goes overly well but Im happy. Most hands go to show down and the trick is not putting yourself in a call down situation where you are likely dominated. Im definitely happy with my play in the no showdown hands. Thats really a big advantage when you can steal some. I think my advantage is patience preflop and knowing when and who to barrell bluff. There are enough tards limping in with weak aces that you can probably beat the time rake just by only playing good aces and pairs. There are also enough players who are too fucking creative for their own good. Like raising on the turn with middle pair to "see where they are at". Do it on the half priced flop if you must. I think you lose more over time popping the turn and getting repopped or called by a normal strength hand than the times you run out people who are over playing big over cards or are totally bluffing. The flop is where to figure out the hand or to 3 and 4 bet to keep the lead and represent big over pairs n such. Most of these players over use the flop raises though. Some of then do this and basically turn their big hands face up and lose value on the big bet streaks. Others over use it to see if they are up against a missed AK. I just see a lot of obvious tendencies in this game that are very exploitable. Funny thing is a lot of the worst offenders play in the higher stakes games. Maybe its like trying to apply middle stakes moves in the low limit games. I just hope this game doesnt turn to shit when the snowbirds go back north. Ooooo spring training is starting soon a I bet its gonna be nice action. People come here in droves to watch their teams practice and scrimege other teams. As if baseball isnt boring enough. I hope its like the year long bowling thing that fueled the best games at the Belle of Baton Rouge.

The monthly bounty tournament is Saturday. $235 entry and $100 per knockout. I like it. I can break even or make a couple hundo way before the money bubble. People call some seriously thin draws if they have a bounty shot too. It will probably work against me Saturday just because Im talking about it. Whatever. I havent played a tournament since November and I miss it. I miss no limit. Hell I enjoy the spread limit games when I sit in them waiting for my table assuming I get some hands. One thing about limit is you get to see a lot more flops. People can never put 6 times the big blind in to run you out. Of course thats why many people hate it too. Ok goodnight. Im gonna watch Anchorman for the 1027th time.

2000 Hands Down. I Think Im Gonna Be OK :P

Dude I was just doing some tourney results checking and holy shit. Congrats to Wild Bill and GeneD for the great showing at the IP in Biloxi!!!! And Shack reg Frank who keeps pop'n out big finishes all year.

Well I've played a good bit of $20/$40 Fixed Limit now but not as much as I wanted to. I would say I have played about 2000 hands so far and broke even. I had my nice starting streak and then ran into a wall and then went on another streak. When I filter my results for $20/$40 its funny because I have 5 wins in a row then 5 losses in a row and then 7 wins in a row. My losses are bigger than my wins unfortunately. I havent really had a typically big win yet. I really feel like I am just getting comfortable with the game and the stakes. I have also been reading whatever material I can find like Johnnie Chan's Limit Cash game book and the Limit sections of Super System. There seem to be more calling stations and tricky bluffers in these games than balanced players so its definitely a good game. I left a game today because it was more tricky players and it was short handed and since I had somewhere to go in a couple hours I decided not to risk such a swing prone couple hours. I would hate to lose a few pots and then be late to my thing or not even go because Im determined to win back to even. That kind o f thinking sometimes gets you even or up but being in the chase your loss mode also drops my level of play often into full steam tilt. I look around at the terrible players who are getting lucky with 9,7 offsuit and think that it should be me this time. That's the kind of thinking I have avoided these last 7 sessions.

Some peoples in my circle are puzzled by this desire to play limit. They dont like not being able to protect their hands. I actually prefer it. Im so sick of trying to protect my big hands and get out flopped by J,7 suited or getting gutshot. NL is so much about traps and bluffs and to tell you the truth thats really not my strong suit. I have trouble with really aggressive players. They are usually better at reading me than I am them which is why they play such aggressive styles. My strong suit is patience. When I was playing online my VPIP/PFR was always good but I was always struggling to get my aggression factor up. In Limit I actually like the players who would rather bluff than check out. Usually I am playing passive against these guys which only encourages them to attempt moves. Often I have to pay off real hands but I feel like its a good strategy against them. By me looking like I dont want to play a big pot I make more than if I take the lead back from them. They are fairly used to these grumpy old men playing back at them and then getting to decide what to do. Maybe I will change my tune one day. I am pretty new to the game. It may take them sometime to exploit me back. But at this point I like having the ability to control the pot size. Strangely enough I dont seem to have the same attitude in tournaments. I think I have done well in tournaments overall. Now by tournaments I mean the 200 dollar nightlies. I dont play the bigger buyins. I have played in two $500 buyins and done nothing special but its really not enough to mention. Of course NL tournaments are totally different than cash games. The blinds going up really hurts the call to trap play since less people see the flop plus the no reload factor. They dont run many $200 tournaments here. They have a daily $60 which is full of landmines. Whatever. I have way enough on plate trying to grind out a win rate at this new Limit stake.

Moved Up. Yikes.

Ahhhhh. My first losing session in a week. How I have missed the sweet stinch of defeat. I moved up to the 20/40 Limit game last week and won 5 in a row. No big wins but solid grinder wins. I didnt want to say anything to anyone until the streak was over. I didnt even call my poker advisor who I talked to right before moving up. Superstitous. I played shitty today. I caught nothing and chased with marginal hands and I paid people off on the river. It was bound to happen I guess. I need to take a break tomorrow and evaluate my play. I know Im not playing optimally but I had been playing well above average for the table. Not today though. I can see about 10 bad moves today. Mostly calling raises in the big blind. Its so damn tempting to get in for a discount and hope to flop big but I spew when I flop a piece. I missed a bet on the river in a half kill pot too by playing to timid with pair of aces with a good kicker. I have also cost myself by playing too tricky on 4th street a couple times. I think about once every session I have had to take a break and refocus after I loosened up preflop because I lost a pot. Overtime these leaks are going to kill me if I dont do something about them. I feel comfortable in the game though and see great potential for my regular game. And when ready there' a 40/80 game to move up to. It was getting so ridiculous in the 2/3 spread game and the 8/16 Limit game. I was losing my shit racking up and quitting and slamming my chair in because yet another pot was taken by a gutshot. That isnt happening in the 20/40. I think most of the money to be made is the old men who got sick of the same thing. I think they dont mind losing to hands that make sense. Maybe I will have a different perspective in a couple weeks though. Maybe Im running good and will eventually run average and bad and run my bankroll into oblivion. I heard them spreading a 10/20 spread limit game today. Maybe that will soften up the 3/5 game because right now it just looks tough. I can say without doubt that I can look at the age, race, gender, and clothing style of a table and have a good idea if its tough or not. See stereotypes make life easier!